Hamburg Sud-Seago Line rationalize intra-Europe capacity

   Hamburg Sud said Thursday it will expand a cooperative agreement with Seago Line between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
   “Both lines had responded to unfavorable market developments in this trade in August 2011 by combining their services,” the German line said in a statement. “Starting in January 2012, the currently existing four services of both partners are to be rationalised and replaced by a new service concept featuring three loops.”
   The three loops will be dubbed Israel Loop, Levant Loop, and Inner Med Feeder by Hamburg Sud.
   The Israel Loop will have a rotation of Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Bremerhaven, Antwerp, Haifa, Alexandria, Ashdod, and Rotterdam. The service will be operated with four Seago Line ships with 4,200 TEUs capacity.
   The Levant Loop will have a rotation of Felixstowe, Antwerp, Hamburg, Tangiers, Limassol, Alexandria, Port Said, Beirut, Lattakia, Mersin, Port Said, Algeciras, and Felixstowe. It will be operated with five Hamburg Sud ships with 4,200 TEUs.
   The Inner Med Feeder will have a rotation Tangiers, Algeciras, Alexandria, Mersin, Port Said, Ashdod, Haifa, Salerno, Valencia, and Tangiers. The line didn’t specify which line would provide the vessels on the service.
   Seago Line is the intra-Europe subsidiary line of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.